1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to a method for the massive culture of recombinant mammalian cells for the production of recombinant human erythropoietin (EPO) in a culture medium containing insulin. The present invention also refers to a method of producing EPO and to the EPO thus produced.
2. Background Information
EPO is a glycoprotein that stimulates erythroblast differentiation in the bone marrow, thus increasing the circulating blood erythrocyte count. The mean life of erythrocytes in humans is 120 days and therefore, a human being loses 1/120 erythrocytes each day. This loss must be continuously restored to maintain an adequate level of red blood cells.
The existence of EPO was first postulated by the turn of the century and was definitely proved by Reissman and Erslev early in the '50s. See Carnot, et al., C.R. Acad. Sci. (France), 143, 384-6 (1906); Carnot, et al., C.R. Acad. Sci. (France), 143, 432-5 (1906); Carnot, et al., C.R. Soc. Biol., 111, 344-6 (1906); Carnot, C.R. Soc. Biol., 111, 463-5 (1906); Reissman, Blood, 1950, 5, 372-80 (1950) and Erslev, Blood, 8, 349-57 (1953). Reissman and Erslev's experiments were promptly confirmed by other researchers. See Hodgson, et al., Blood, 9, 299-309(1954); Gordon, et al., Proc. Soc. Exp. Biol. Med., 86, 255-8 (1954) and Borsook, et al., Blood, 9, 734-42 (1954).
The identification of the EPO production site in the organism was an issue of debate. Successive experiments led to identify the kidney as the main organ and peritubular interstitial cells as the synthesis site. See Jacobson, et al., Nature, 179, 633-4 (1957); Kuratowska, et al., Blood, 18, 527-34 (1961); Fisher, Acta Hematol., 26, 224-32 (1961); Fisher, et al., Nature, 205, 611-2 (1965); Frenkel, et al., Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci., 149, 1, 292-3 (1968); Busuttil, et al., Proc. Soc. Exp. Biol. Med., 137, 1, 327-30 (1971); Busuttil, Acta Haematol., (Switzerland), 47, 4, 238-42 (1972); Erslev, Blood, 44, 1, 77-85 (1974); Kazal, Ann. Clin. Lab. Sci., 5, 2, 98-109 (1975); Sherwood, et al., Endocrinology, 99, 2, 504-10 (1976); Fisher, Ann. Rev. Pharmacol. Toxicol., 28, 101-22 (1988); Jelkmann, et al., Exp. Hematol., 11, 7, 581-8 (1983); Kurtz, et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. (USA), 80, 13, 4008-11 (1983); Caro, et al., J. Lab. Clin. Med., 103, 6, 922-31 (1984); Caro, et al., Exp. Hematol., 12, 357 (1984); Schuster, et al., Blood, 70, 1, 316-8 (1986); Bondurant, et al., Mol. Cell. Biol., 6, 7, 2731-3 (1986); Bondurant, et al., Mol. Cell. Biol., 6, 7, 2731-3 (1986); Schuster, et al., Blood, 71, 2, 524-7 (1988); Koury, et al., Blood, 71, 2, 524-7 (1988); Lacombe, et al., J. Clin. Invest., 81, 2, 620-3 (1988); Koury, et al., Blood, 74, 2, 645-51 (1989).
A smaller proportion, ranging from 10% to 15% of total EPO, is produced by the liver in adults. See Naughton, et al., J. Surg. Oncol., 12, 3, 227-42 (1979); Liu, et al., J. Surg. Oncol., 15, 2, 121-32 (1980); Dornfest, et al., Ann. Clin. Lab. Sci., 11, 1, 37-46 (1981); Dinkelaar, et al., Exp. Hematol., 9, 7, 796-803 (1981); Caro, et al., Am. J. Physiol., 244, 5 (1983); Dornfest, et al., J. Lab. Clin. Med., 102, 2, 274-85 (1983); Naughton, et al., Ann. Clin. Lab. Sci., 13, 5, 432-8 (1983); Jacobs, et al., Nature, 313, 6005, 806-10 (1985); Erslev, et al., Med. Oncol. Tumor. Pharmacother., 3, 3-4, 159-64 (1986). The EPO produced is directly proportional to the extent of tissular hypoxia and its expression rises by increasing the number of the EPO producing cells.
EPO has shown great efficiency in the treatment of anemia, especially anemia derived from renal failure. See Eschbach, et al., N. England J. of Med., 316, 2, 73-78 (1987); Krane, Henry Ford Hosp. Med. J, 31, 3, 177-181 (1983). Its therapeutical usefulness, however, has been limited due to the unavailability of a massive production method. The quantity and quality of the EPO obtained by the extractive systems known were insufficient. Recently, the use of recombinant DNA technology has made it possible to obtain large amounts of proteins. The application of these techniques to eukaryotic cells has allowed a large scale production of EPO. See U.S. Pat. No. 5,688,679 (to Powell), U.S. Pat. No. 5,547,933 (to Lin), U.S. Pat. No. 5,756,349 (to Lin), U.S. Pat. No. 4,703,008 (to Lin) and U.S. Pat. No. 4,677,195 (to Hewick et al.)
Notwithstanding the recent considerable literature referring to the production of EPO in mammalian cell cultures, no method has yet been devised to produce efficiently EPO in industrial scale. The existent EPO culture systems are further characterized by their low reproducibility and output quality. See U.S. Pat. No. 5,688,679 (to Powell); U.S. Pat. No. 5,547,933 (to Lin); U.S. Pat. No. 5,756,349 (to Lin); U.S. Pat. No. 4,703,008 (to Lin) and U.S. Pat. No. 4,677,195 (to Hewick et al.); Andersen, et al., Curr. Op. Biotech, 5, 546-549 (1994); Butler, Ed., “Mammalian Cell Biotechnology”, (IRL Press, Oxford, England, 1991); Murakami, Ed., “Trends in Animal Cell Culture Technology”, (Kodansha Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, 1990); Freshney, Ed., “Animal Cell Culture. A Practical Approach,” Ch. 3, (IRL Press, Oxford, England, 1986); Pirt, “Principles of Microbe and Cell Cultivation”, (Blackwell Scientific Pub., London, England, 1985); Hames et als., “Transcription and Translation. A Practical Approach”, (IRL Press, Oxford, England, 1984).